Problems introducing a new cat, with a twist

[carpdirector]

Hi, I really need some advice, please!   I have two neutered male cats: Simon the Siamese who is 7, and Blue, a 6 yr old black tuxedo.  I adopted them both as kittens and they have a fantastic dynamic together.   Well, recently, we took in a stray, a grey tuxedo, who is also a neutered male, that we named Charlie.  He was very well cared for when we started seeing him around the neighborhood in May, and whenever he saw us he would run over to us, meowing and begging for attention. After a couple of months I noticed he had lost weight and didn't look quite as sleek as he had before and he kept begging to come into the house so we decided to take him in. The vet says he is around 3 and in very good health.

I put him upstairs where my kids sleep and hang out, and there is a door at the bottom of the stairs that we can close to separate him from Simon and Blue.  We kept him up there for over a week, giving the cats time to smell each other through the door and let them investigate each other's territory. Things seemed to be going pretty well: Blue didn't seem to care too much at first, and Simon would touch noses with Charlie and then hiss, but no growling or swatting.  So we got bolder and let them mix while supervised.  Then Charlie, being 3, tried to play with the others by pouncing on them, and the old codgers did NOT appreciate that.  It's been over a month since we took Charlie in. Simon is still watchful when Charlie is around, and will sometimes hiss when he gets in Simon's face...especially after another surprise pouncing.   Blue, on the other hand, has started bullying Charlie.  He will sit on the dining room chair that we have next to the kitchen doorway and growl at Charlie (and sometimes swat) when he tries to go by. Charlie has learned to keep a certain distance away.  The weird thing is, Blue sleeps on my bed during the day and will allow Charlie to sleep there, too...as long as he isn't too close.  I have pictures of them sleeping maybe a foot apart from each other. Then later he will give a warning growl if Charlie gets on the cat tree (it has 3 levels and Blue's is the very top), and will growl like crazy when on the dining room chair.   I'm thinking we may need to restart the introductions, but that's where the twist comes in.

I think Charlie grew to like being outside, and seems to be a good hunter, based on his playing skills and the fact that he wasn't starving when we took him in. He constantly begs to go out. When closed upstairs, he drives my kids crazy with his meowing to be let out, and when he can freely roam the house he yowls and meows nonstop and will try to lead me to the door.  After the first couple of weeks with us, I started letting him out. That seemed to calm him down and he stopped trying to physically play with Simon and Blue.  But Simon and Blue are not outdoor cats. We're afraid Charlie will bring something home that will get them sick...or that something will happen to Charlie.  So after reading some advice on this forum, I stopped letting him out, cold turkey, and have just ignored his yowling ever since.  It's been over a week and he has not let up!   So he REALLY wants outside and when we have him locked upstairs he becomes a real PIA about it.  I really don't think my kids can handle another full lockdown while we reintroduce the cats.   Should I just let him outside and fight one battle at a time?  

 

[zoop]

Let him outside coz he wants to. If you are afraid of him bringing something in then make sure he is up on his vaccination especially feline leukemia - FeLV which is highly recommended for outside cats. If you are concerned about Flea and Ticks then you can put a Flea collar on him. If you don't want him to catch and eat outside prey then put a bell collar on it which will alert the prey.

Regarding cat introductions, although it may seem to you that it is not going well from what I can read it looks that it is going fine. There is no blood drawn till this date so everything looks good.

Watch this youtube series about cat introductions it will give you an idea about their body language and you will be able to differentiate between play and aggressive behavior. Some hissing is fine my kitten (same litter) still do that, I think you are making great progress but you are not realizing it. You can watch the series above and compare it to your cat behavior to figure out how good or bad you are doing.

 

[NewYork1303]

If you want him to be indoors, just keep him in. He will give up on the yowling eventually though it may take time. It is reasonable to worry about him bringing things home from his adventures outside. 

Your cats sound as if they're around where mine are together (also at around a month of hanging out together). Carrot and Angua (resident cats) are weary of new sibling Ruby. They are happy to play to some extent though they are younger so that will play into it some. Everyone is good sleeping. One month isn't that long in cat introductions so I'd say everything should improve some with more time. 

 

[carpdirector]

Thank you for the reassurance!  The video series helped a lot, too.  It was really interesting to see the cats on the video acting exactly like my cats have been; it gives me hope.  We've only ever introduced kittens before, not full grown cats; it makes a difference!

Charlie is still yowling nonstop to go outside. It's been about two weeks now that I've kept him in and he shows no signs of giving up. I keep trying to distract him with toys, but nothing is keeping his interest for more than a couple minutes. I've never harness trained a cat before but I think Charlie is a good candidate for it. I mentioned that you can get cat enclosures for the backyard and my husband looked at me like I had grown two heads  

 

[aislinn]

Let the poor thing out. He has probably spent a lot of time outdoors and misses the excitement. As long as he's up to date on shots, it will be fine. There's no sense in letting him suffer with a life indoors. I had one indoor-outdoor cat and another strictly indoor. It worked out fine for is and both cats were happy.